Breaking through social barriers
“Only connect.” The words are spoken in E.M. Forster’s timeless masterpiece, “Howards End,” by Ruth Wilcox ( Julia Ormond), the matriarch of the wealthy family that shares the stage in the thrilling four-part adaptation of the novel premiering on Starz on Sunday, April 8.
The phrase is used in the 1910 novel in reference to the need for people to connect with each other. But in classconscious Great Britain, especially during the recently ended long reign by Queen Victoria, connections are sanctioned only within one’s own social circle.
But there is a new century and a new monarch in Great Britain, and social change is
occurring at a revolutionary pace that is rattling the nation’s rigid class system. The Wilcoxes are tradition bound, with little use for anyone from the middle or lower classes. Hence, the three adult children are wary of Margaret Schlegel’s (Hayley Atwell) growing friendship with the family matriarch.
Ruth is a far more democratic creature than her husband, Henry (Matthew Macfadyen), or their children, Charles ( Joe Bannister), Paul ( Jonah Hauer-King) and Evie (Bessie Carter). Howards End is the rambling Wilcox country home that Ruth adores but to which the rest of the family members are indifferent. When she meets Margaret, she realizes that Margaret is the only other person who could really appreciate the magic of the old manse.
Henry is nothing if not opinionated and decisive, and yet on her first visit with the family, Margaret wisely observes that despite her relative silence, Ruth holds the real power in the family dynamic.
Margaret, her younger sister Helen (Philippa Coulthard) and their younger brother Tibby (Alex Lawther) are halfGerman members of the middle class, who pretty much fend for themselves, although they live with their aunt, Juley (Tracey Ullman).
At the lower end of the economic and social scale is Leonard Bast ( Joseph Quinn), an impoverished clerk who has been cast out by his family because he is living with a former prostitute named Jacky (Rosalind Eleazar), whom he refers to as his wife.
Margaret and especially Helen feel beholden to help the young man and pass along some information delivered by Henry as a passing remark about Bast’s current job. He follows the advice, to his further ruin. Henry doesn’t care because it isn’t his business to care about the lower classes. Consequences are rarely uppermost in the mind of the entitled Henry Wilcox. To be concerned about consequences, one must be concerned about other people, especially those who are more vulnerable to the vicissitudes of daily life in early 20th century England.
Like it or not, the three class-representative families will connect because the times demand it. Forster’s book, and the Starz miniseries, trace the dissolution of social barriers as the new century revs up after the death of Victoria in 1901.
Forster’s novel brilliantly explores the social, political, economic and sexual changes that were taking place in Great Britain. The Starz adaptation is excellent on so many levels, but the extraordinary adaptation by Kenneth Lonergan and revelatory direction by Hettie Macdonald mirror Forster’s themes and symbolism. Note, for example, the clothes worn by the Schlegels and designed by Sheena Napier. While the Wilcoxes and Bast are regularly dressed in black or gray, the Schlegels are positively madcap in their bright, bold colors, visual harbingers of the changes taking place in England at the time.
Change is further mirrored in other aspects of the story, such as the fact that the flat the Schlegels have lived in for many years is to be razed to make way for a “modern” apartment building — a physical manifestation of social and cultural upheaval.
We also see it in the modes of transportation on the streets of early 20th century London. At the beginning, we see mostly horse-drawn carriages. As time wears on, more and more motorcars turn up, until horses are a rarity. Quiet streets, once punctuated by the clop-clop of horses, now teem with belching, noisy motorcars.
“Everyone’s moving,” Henry says in what would be an offhand remark were it not delivered in “Howards End.” People are not just moving from place to place, but what we understand in ways that Henry is only beginning to realize, is that the entire social structure is “moving”: tradition, attitudes, prejudices and so much more are changing.
Counterintuitively, the careful details of Forster’s thematic construct are delivered through briskly economic direction. Most scenes are brief, underscoring the rapid pace of change in the world at the time. Yet, the scenes never feel hurried or incomplete. Macdonald works hard to ensure that every performance is nuanced and relates perfectly to every other performance.
Lonergan’s script is simply stunning. So many seemingly offhand remarks, delivered as such, are filled with content and import, such as Henry’s advice to Margaret that “You have to keep them at a distance or they will take advantage,” referring to the poor.
Distance is not as easy to achieve in the new century, though, as Henry will reluctantly discover.
Every performance is spoton, especially that of Atwell, who is captivating and engagingly intelligent as Margaret Schlegel. Ormond is heartbreaking and noble as Ruth Wilcox, a woman who embraces change and “connecting” but who will not live long enough to see their effects on British society.
Ullman, Macfadyen, Quinn and Coulthard contribute mightily to the film’s success, as does Lawther, the immensely gifted young actor who played young Alan Turing in “The Imitation Game” and is now making audiences pay attention to the Netflix series “The End of the F***ing World.”
Ismail Merchant and James Ivory got to the material first, of course, with the lush, expansive 1992 film whose cast included Vanessa Redgrave, Anthony Hopkins and Emma Thompson. The film is certainly among the team’s best, with Ruth Prawer Jhabvala adapting the novel with her usual grace, care and wisdom. The approach then was more traditional, but equally effective.
When the source material is as rich and powerful as Forster’s great modern novel, there is enough room for two great film adaptations. The new “Howards End” does far more than only connect.
David Wiegand is an assistant managing editor and the TV critic of The San Francisco Chronicle. Follow him on Facebook. Email: dwiegand@ sfchronicle.com Twitter: @WaitWhat_TV